


SaNiTY

by Yin_Yang_Yazmine



Series: Sanity-verse [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure, Blood and Gore, F/F, F/M, Gen, Unfortunate Implications, Violence, split personality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2019-12-26 21:06:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18290243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yin_Yang_Yazmine/pseuds/Yin_Yang_Yazmine
Summary: Sanity, what is that?I don't know where I'm headed, but I do know why I'm traveling.We- well actually I, need to understand how three souls can share one body, I can't stay blind and unknowing forever, I wa-need to understand, I need to take my own path and live.This 'home' isn't my home,it isn't my destiny it never was,I will travel forward, We will go forward, towards a journey and life greater than ourselves.Towards a better life. (Multi-pokemon-Pov)(T for swearing,blood and gore and unfortunate implications)





	1. The Pack

**Author's Note:**

> Sanity-Chp1. The Pack.

 

 

 

 

 

** Midnight's POV: **

Dawn streaked the sky in faint bands of red, pink and lavender, while the branches of the gigantic oak trees swayed in the wind,creating a soft and familiar rustling that quickly mixed with the singing and chirping of various bird Pokémon.

My steps were almost noiseless as I made my way through the forest green. My eyes kept on closing involuntary as exhaustion weighed down on my shoulders, and I wondered again why I had gone for a walk instead of sleeping like everybody else.

"Good morning." I muttered.

**_Morning,_** Nightmare yawned from inside my head, she sounded exhausted as well despite not having done anything during my walk.

 I blinked trying to stay awake, forcing my tired legs to move faster as I thought of the well-deserved rest that awaited me.

A flash of purple fur and the sound of a tiny heartbeat pushed my sleepiness away. Immediately I dropped into a crouch and made my way through the undergrowth trying to stay silent as I neared a distracted rattata that was practically begging to be caught.The mouse froze sensing something amiss, before continuing to nibble a seed,however its shoulders were tense and the normal-type seemed ready to flee at any given moment.Not willing to let my catch flee,I sprang forward, the rattata zipped into the grass the moment my paws left the ground.Landing on nothing I swore under my breath and  gave chase always a bit behind it,the violet rodent led me through the forest and squeaked as it ducked into a tiny ice cavern.

Hissing I dived behind it and madly tried to flush the purple mouse out of hiding, but it was hidden too deeply in its hole.Pouting I jumped onto one of the icy shelves created by the Ice-covered-rock and waited, ready to pounce on the rattata the moment it put a paw out.

I shivered as the cold that emanated from the stone pierced my thick black pelt, slowly seeping into my skin.I waited trembling until the sun had completely risen over the nearby mountains,sighing I sprang off the icy ledge and carefully peered into the hole,my good nocturnal vision saw...nothing; the cavern was empty.

I sprayed poison around myself and glared at my reflection, who proceeded to glare back with an icy green gaze before it distorted due to the mixing of the dawn light that flooded the sky,the thin wispy shadows that fell on the ice-covered-rock and the darkness and light of Our pelt. Our mirror image was nothing more than a silhouette now ,a stretched silhouette with thin spinity legs and a huge round body. I laughed at the over exaggeration of Our features and stared at my own breath; now turned into a tiny white cloud that billowed up into the air.

**_Your in a good mood,_** Nightmare noted.

"And you haven't said a single curse!" I chuckled for a bit before stopping as my eyes demanded rest,I yawned and stretched kneading the ground with my large furry paws.

**_Eh, the day's still young, there'll be plenty of time for swearing._ **

I bounded through the thinning grass, completely unaware of where I was going until it was too late. I leapt back as my paws hit the water, it wasn't cold, but I shivered anyways, seeing the lake in a lovely blood and guts hue, instead of the usual blue. My vision blurred and became tinted with red, I couldn't move, couldn't breath, I could only hear wicked laughter and smell my own sour fear as I tried in vain to fight against a monster.

**_Midnight!_** Nightmare's voice sounded distant and ripplely as if she were underwater, yet it was enough to snap me out of my memory.

Jerking my head upwards, I kept my eyes focused on a cloud and I backed away trying to control my just noticed, rapid pulse and breathing.

**_You ok? Do...you want me to take over?_ **

Taking deep breaths I politely shook my head and turned around staring at the nearby trees before charging into the greenery. My large black paws kicked up leaves, dirt and other forest waste as I moved among the trees, I ducked under a fallen oak, startling a few sentrets in the process and ran around the gigantic moss covered rock that was placed in the dead center of our trail.I pushed myself forward for a few more meters and tumbled into the clearing,slightly dazed I growled softly as the sunlight shone into my eyes.

Sweat clung to my fur and I stumbled on my paws before shaking myself free of toxic substance .The exhaustion returned to my legs and I nearly fell forwards thanks to it,my ears dropping and my long messy tail dragging in the dirt as I trudged towards the bramble bush that served as a den, slipping through the too-wide-for-me entrance.I swayed on my paws,feeling as if my legs would snap at any given moment,as I searched for a possible place to rest.

Due to the rarity of Nightmare or I sleeping in camp, We had no nest and on days like this when We decided to return to camp and rest We usually rested next to Raiden,Ariada and in Nightmare's case with Link,but today they had already left to hunt, leaving me with just Caleo...

**_Are you seriously going to sleep next to her?_ **

"Yeah, I guess I will, moss isn't as comfy as a bunch of warm fur."

Nightmare muttered something I couldn't understand as I made my way towards the exceptionally large flareon.

Caleo's rusty brown sides rose with each breath, and her eyes rolled in her head as she dreamed. I crawled towards the fire-type and snuggled into her thick brown and yellow fur, praying that she wouldn't be angry later on. The warmth and softness of her fur made me feel the sleepiness even more and Nightmare's angry muttering faded into the background.

* * *

 

By the time I woke up, the sun was peeking through the cracks of the den, giving the bramble bush a magical kind of glow.

I got up carefully freezing as I felt Caleo's warm fluffy body shift, the flareon murmured in her sleep and rolled. Allowing myself to breath, I carefully stepped out of the mossy nest and jumped through the large round exit.

The day looked promising, tree branches swaying in the warm breeze, bracken and ferns unfurled themselves in the western edge of camp, seemingly glowing in the sunshine.I purred and stopped wondering how long this peace would last.

_**This place will be like home until Caleo wakes up, better take advantage of it.** _

"I just got out of the Mindscape."

_**Yes, but you've said yourself the Mindscape is the closest you've got to home.** _

"I know...but today has an optimistic vibe don't you think?"

_**You aren't going to mope around again are you?** _

"I promise I won't mope around." I say going around the bramble bush, picking the clearest less torn-filled route out of camp via the east proved difficult due to the lack of eeveelutions walking and following a specific route though the plants, but somehow I managed to get through with only a few scratches.

I didn't know what was with today but the forest was bright, sun beams filtering through the canopy creating a pattern on the forest floor that I could only describe as a 'leaf dapple',the leaves and grass sparkled with evaporating dew.The scents and sounds of prey and other minor creatures moving among the plants.It was all evidence of New-leaf transforming into Green-leaf.

_**The Equinox is almost here!**_ Nightmare mewed excited.

"I'll never get why the Equinox is so important to you."

_**Its tradition passed down from generation to generation in Relta, so of course it matters to me.** _

"I know but,do you really think that burning things and praying to a god that we don't know actually exists is a good thing?"

_**I don't care for the results, I just participate cause its tradition.** _

"You weren't even born in Relta!"

_**I was never born, I was created; but what about it?** _

"It just isn't your birth culture."

_**Maybe it isn't but who knows...maybe it is Our culture.**_ Nightmare didn't give me time to answer. **_Remember the story about Cloudberry and Ryewhisker?_**

"Kind of," I mumbled already losing interest.Stories about forbidden lovers were always predictable, they either got caught, were forced to fight each other,ran away, or one of them died.

_**Their half-pack kits were said to have been taken to Silvta after Cloudberry died.** _

"Your point?"

_**They say that legends come from the truth so who knows...maybe there is Relta blood in Us.** _

I sighed and instead focussed on a blade of grass that bobbed back and forth in the breeze,and dropped to the floor stalking it, quick and light on my paws before pouncing and happily grasping it between my teeth before I began rolling around in the grass,lying on my back to watch the pidgeys fluttering in the trees.

"Why can't it be like this everyday?"

_**Because most days,you stay in the Mindscape while I wander around and take care of Our body while trying to avoid the shit going on at Camp, and help with you deal with a lot of unpleasant memories as well,while pushing my own negative emotions away...**_ Nightmare trailed off and I growled swishing my tail,flattening my ears and dropping my blade of grass.

_**Hey, don't be like that. Today's a nice day, why don't We go and wander through the woods with a smile on Our face?Let's try to be white eyes, for a while.** _

I nodded unenthusiastically due that in my opinion being a white soul was stupid, they were too happy to the point that it was better considered as mania,and while I had only met one white eyes-a houndour during a pack gathering; his endless happiness had been enough to allow me to decide that white eyes were the most bullshit crazy kind of souls.

I rolled around in the grass a few more times before getting back to my paws and ducking into the undergrowth. "Why do you want me to be a white eye?" I ask Nightmare as I wandered through the forest in opposite direction of the lake."If I were one,I wouldn't have gotten lonely and sad and there would be no reason for you to exist."

_**Eh,** _

I glanced stopping to investigate a small creek that snaked its way through the woodland. Nightmare took a moment to reply, as if she too were contemplating the little stream.

_**I don't remember this creek.** _

"You don't?" I mewed surprised, scampering over to a little waterfall and following the twisting,winding water path.

"I have a feeling that I've seen this river before."

Eventually the river came to a stop and I froze, wondering where the fuck I was.

“Where are We?" I asked looking around for any familiar landmarks before scrambling up a tree to get a better view.

Perched on a relatively low branch I breathed out seeing the mountains and the lake and rows and rows of trees all a good distance from where We were,it was quite the south side of the forest thinned out, way too much to be considered natural. The lush green turned to an unappealing brown, the trees looked like skeletons, thin and dark, the ground was a mix of dead matter and brown sun-hardened mud imprinted with the large paw prints. Then it hit me like a very large rock.

"This isn't our territory!" I shrieked nearly falling off the branch

"We're on Ignalta's lands! How the hell did We not smell their border markers!"

_**What's so bad about Ignalta?** _

"If they find Us here, they'll rip Us to shreds or declare war on the pack!"

_**And?** _

"Don't you remember all the problems that came up between the packs because of their hostility? Sunburst and Malichor always fought at the gatherings!"

_**Oh, that was the shit Sunburst was yelling about during the gatherings,I always thought that it was her being a bitch.** _

_**"Did you even pay attention to the gatherings?" I ask jumping off the branch,landing neatly on the ground.** _

_**Of course I wasn't paying attention I was too busy pointing out every pretty female I saw to Raiden,her reactions were funny.** _

Rolling my eyes at my counterpart juvenile behavior I sniffed the air warrily and slinked across the ground,there were no fresh houndoom scents and that both relieved and made me nervous.

The majority of the houndoom territory was barren with little undergrowth to hide and mingle scents and I winced as I my tail dragged behind me spreading my scent, it was simply too long and heavy to lift in the air.

"We're going to die." I whimper ducking behind a log as I heard a bush rustle.

_**Stop being so paranoid! Ignalta isn't even a big problem anymore, it's been three years since the merge and we've never had problems with them,most of our problems these days are Caleo and her bitchiness.** _

"You blame Caleo for everything."

_**Not for everything, if it weren't for her bitchiness, I wouldn't exist. I'm grateful for that at least.** _

None of us said a thing as a patrol of houndoom and houndour stepped into the open, despite the apparent wasteland that their territory was; the dark-typed canines had sleek well-groomed fur and thick muscles,their scent while bitter carried the slightly irritating smell of a fire-type.I prayed to whatever gods existed to allow me to pass through the territory undetected,that my own dark-type scent was lost in theirs.The dogs passed, not even batting an eye at my hiding place as they renewed the border markings in the disgusting way that canines always did-urinating over everything and promptly left.

I waited flat against the ground until I could no longer hear the crunch of the branches and leaves that they trampled underfoot,sighing in relief I picked my way through the territory, my legs feeling too stiff for me to break into a run.I wrinkled my nose at the scent of Ignalta's border marker and did my best to ignore the pungent odor as I passed over the now visible borderline and into my own territory. Acting on instinct I swept my tail over my side of the border and I spat on the ground repulsed by the musty dog odor and rushed upstream back to the fresh multi-scented forest.

Now We were wandering through the woods, sniffing the air in search of a meal,my failed hunt for food earlier today was still fresh in my mind and I growled determined to catch something, with so many prey scents I doubted that I wasn't going to catch anything and after picking out one of many I dropped into a crouch and began stalking the prey.

The sentret pushed itself onto it's striped tail,nervously scanning the area before dropping to the ground searching for seeds or worms or whatever sentrets ate.I took a few steps, watching how the normal-type's long ears twitched, it rose onto its tail again and I flattened myself against the ground,hidden by the tall grass.

I crawled forward keeping my gaze on the plump body of the rodent as it whipped around to scan the other direction;my nose caught an odd bitter-sweet scent and I pushed myself to my paws and tackled the distracted rodent.It gave out a shrill squeak as I pinned it down,struggling with the size and weight of the creature,before dislocating its spine with a swift bite.I gripped my catch and began hauling it into the bushes, feeling self-pride build up in my chest.

It turned out that the sentret had mostly been fur indicating that it was going to be a very shaggy furret, due to this minor detail It had taken me forever to spit the hairs out of my teeth.

Once I was done I sniffed the air,and followed the sharp unnatural smell of ozone to its source,pushing a few branches out of the way to look at the large bulky jolteon.

"Raiden, without Ariada?"

_**With Ariada-**_ Nightmare corrected - **Look closer.**

I squinted and scanned the forest, but found nothing else than a few ferns and other leaves.

_**Ariada's good at hiding.** _

I nodded observing as the jolteon sniffed the air in search of prey, her large nicked ears twitched, the fur on them becoming electrified quills just like the rest of her pelt.

Raiden would appreciate the help considering that Ariada only tagged along for the sunlight,exercise,and for Raiden and not for the actual prey.

"Your turn." I whispered to Nightmare, shutting my eyes and allowing my consciousness to fade away into the Mindscape.

 

* * *

 

**Caleo's Pov:**

I groaned, turning around in my nest, opening my eyes slightly to see a blur of sunlight and shadows mixing together before I shut my eyes again, but my ears were now picking up the bothersome sounds of chatter and my vision turned blackish-red as the sunlight fell directly on my face.

I lifted my head, blinking the drowsiness den was empty and I yawned puffing my fur and releasing the excess heat that my body had stored up during the cool night.

Glancing up at the tangle of thorny branches over my head, I wondered what time it was, the woven bramble didn't allow the sky to be seen, so I could only guide myself by the amount of sunshine that slipped through the cracks.

Yawning again I began to stretch, getting rid of even more excess heat as I did, the den felt too warm even for me, fluffing myself up again, I wondered if I had slept tough New-leaf and woken up on some arid Green-leaf with my stretching done. I got to my paws and quickly made my way to the exit squeezing through the shrinking hole.

The clearing was peaceful, which wasn't a big surprise considering the small size of the 'pack'. The sun was directly above the forest, marking the hour as midday as the trees danced in the soft breeze, and the scent of fresh-kill lingered in the air.

I immediately began walking towards the leafeon, jolteon and sylveon that sat in at the western edge of the clearing eating what I assumed was lunch.

"Good afternoon, I guess?" I said as I sniffed the pack of grass where I was going to sit, it smelled strongly of Midnight or Nightmare, so they had probably just left.

Raiden made a strange crackling sound at my comment and began to rip her prey apart with more viciousness.

I ignored the jolteon's unfriendly gesture and puffed out my thick fur once more, disturbing Ariada in the skinny leafeon stopped kneading the ground with her tiny brown paws and looked at me annoyed.

"How's everything?" I mumbled, lifting my paw and giving it a few licks as I sat down.

"Everything's fine, as alwa- Raiden, stop playing with it !" Ariada chided starting at the bloody tendon that hung from the jolteon's jaws.

"I'm not playing!"

"Just hurry up and eat it!"

"That's what I'm doing!" The jolteon hissed scarfing down the remains of her rattata.

I glanced at Link,the small sylveon laid on the ground head on his paws, his blue-tipped feelers moved in quick little opened one blue eye, stared at me, then closed it, making a sound deep in his throat.

I wanted to fluff my fur again and my paws pricked with the need to walk in an endless repetitive cycle.

"Is it just me or is it hot?"

"Today's as cool as a cucumber Caleo, it's probably because you slept all night and half of the day." Raiden mewed washing her yellow flank in an attempt to keep her fur needles flat.

"What's a cucumber?" Link asked, sitting up and raising his dancing feelers to the air. The jolteon shrugged

"Misty always said stuff about cucumbers, she never explained what a cucumber was. I think its a plant." She glanced at Ariada for a confirmation.

"Just because I'm a grass-type, doesn't mean I know every plant in existence." She hissed, violet eyes flashing venomously.

"Maybe, but you know about healing herbs."

"Healing herbs." Ariada repeated "Viridis never mentioned cucumbers."

"What about Slate?" Raiden inquired

"He was a domesticated pokemon after all." Ariada was thoughtful for a moment, her foreleaf dropping to cover the space between her eyes "I never asked, but fro-"

I ignored my packmates and got to my paws, the conversation was foreign to me anyways I knew nothing about herbs or whatever customs had been created by the other pack before the merge.

I walked to a patch of burnt grass which had become in recent years my 'pacing place'. It had become a habit to walk and walk and walk, think a bit about my problems and rid myself of the excess energy.

Eventually I lost track of time, engrossed in my habit, it took various taps on the shoulder to snap out of in.I stopped and looked at Raiden, her fur was slightly spiked up. "

Midnight was in a good mood when she left, perhaps you should go and walk in the forest and meet up with her, all this heat will give Ariada a stroke."

I glanced at the small leafeon who was laying on the ground, on her side, not injured or sickened at all. I bit my lip and growled sending out a wave of heat in annoyance.

"What did I just tell you!?"

"Ariada's fine, stop overreacting."

"So being concerned for the well being of my mate is overreacting?" The smell of ozone became stronger and the crackling sound that Raiden made whenever she exhaled had become mixed with a low snarl. I could faintly hear Ariada shouting at Raiden.

"If I, by any chance bother Ariada , you two can go SOMEWHERE ELSE!"

The jolteon gekkered at me, the white ruff of fur around her neck stood up, and electricity spun and twirled around her body in arches that lasted for mere seconds.I snarled in reply feeling my chest fill up with flames, my thick mane and tail began to glow and flicker, the area of blacked grass around me glared at each other, ears flat against our heads, tails - if Raiden even had a tail- swishing back and forth, jaws wide open displaying our fangs.

It seemed that we had stared at each other for hours, and my paws had begun to prickle,I was getting tired of the 'standing still game'.I was about to raise myself on my hind legs in an attempt to scare Raiden off when a pair of feelers came between us.

My inner flame dimed as the calming fairy-type energy spread throughout the camp and filled the air. Ariada made her way towards Raiden in quick little steps, I could hear the annoyed tone in her soft voice as she lead the pissed off jolteon away into the forest. Link walked past me his paws barely touching the charred ground around me as he moved in quick,long,graceful steps, his long blue and pink feelers trailing behind him. I growled once he left and turned around planning to find Midnight for no good reason.

* * *

 

Tracking them down was easy, Midnight tended to avoid the area around the lake and her demon usually lingered in the more isolated parts of the forest.

I fluffed my fur for what seemed the thousandth time, and I pushed aside some grass with my paws and growled as I scented the distinctive bitter odor of a dark-type. As I followed the scent trail though the forest, the trees became bigger and less sunlight peeked through the branches, the chirping pidgeys were replaced by silent hoot-hoots and the soft tall grass became thick and untamable. Eventually the trail came to a stop and I searched among the tree branches knowing that Midnight's bitch of a companion liked climbing.

"Look at that Midnight, a wild bitch."

I jumped startled and turned around coming face-to-face with the dark-type. I snarled igniting my mane and tail.

"Calm down Caleo, I'm just saying the truth, after all, lying is a terrible sin." The red-eyed umbreon chuckled softly, red eyes flashing.

"I'm not here to listen to your shit, I'm here because I want to fight." There wasn't any swearing or snarling as I expected, instead I received an eye-roll. I guessed that they were in a really good mood today.

"Go fight with Raiden, isn't that what you always do?"

"Why aren't you swearing, isn't that what you always do?"

The demon shrugged, "Eh, the day's still young, and besides, Midnight's happy, so I'm happy, we’re white eyes for today." the red-eyed umbreon smiled and skipped around me, I blinked confused.

"And that,fucking bitch is the reason of my existence, to do what you failed to do as a sibling. I am your replacement" She ended her statement with giggle that seemed to have an echo of its own, two voices merged into one.

So Midnight was also laughing at me.

I bit my lip and growled. "Maybe I could have had done my job if you hadn't turned Midnight against me, you demon!"

"Some of these problems have been around long before I existed, not when you noticed.You had your chances to redeem yourself in Our eyes, I even fucking encouraged Midnight to try to close the gap between you two; and you-" her voice became a vicious snarl "-only made the fucking gap wider."

The umbreon shook her head, and stayed still for a moment ears twitching while I wondered when I had been given this 'other chance'.

The demon then spat onto the ground, and regained her cherry cheerful attitude.

"If We are needed, We'll be in the woods!" The voice was echoed once more and I watched as they skipped around me, before diving into the bushes. I remained staring at the undergrowth where the umbreon had disappeared confused and angry.


	2. Intruders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the night falls over the forest, the Silvta Pack finds themselves with new beings intruding both their minds and home.

**Chapter Two: Intruders**

 

 

 

****  
  
**Nightmare's POV:**

  
By the time We arrived at camp the sun was just due to set in an hour,and it was already painting a pretty mix of silver-orange light and shadows over the trees, branches and landscape.   
  
I wearily walked through the bushes, and stopped to catch my breath.I blamed Midnight for this, her odd sleeping habits weren't doing Us any good, but aside from reminding her to go to sleep, and nagging her for hours on end,both in the waking and in the Mindscape there wasn't much I do other than hope that my counterpart listened for once.   
  
Camp was quite a far cry from the lively environment that I had 'grown' in and while I disliked the general air that the whole camp gave off, this sad lack of life.

I took a deep breath and looked up at the darkening sky,this was home, this was my territory, the place where generaction upon generations of Eons had lived,fought and died, their memories being preserved in the form of stories and legends…

I shook my head.

It was home once, now...it was an empty shell, the home I had once had now being reduced to nothing.

Yawning I looked around the rather empty camp.Wondering again why the I had even returned.

I dragged my back legs on the ground not really wanting to do anything involved with movement, I felt neutral,dull, purposeless per to say,my ears twitched as I became aware of the odd  persistent feeling of anxiety that was caused by my boredom, it was bothering me, crawling down my spine like some kind of bug and I growled hating the calm and quite.  
  
Bored out my mind and not wanting to return to the even larger boredom of the Mindscape,I began to use some physic-type energy to lift a nearby pebble.The tiny stone wobbled as I struggled to grasp it properly but once I did take a hold of it, I lifted it into the air without much effort. I purred glad to see that I could still control my psychic energy without too much risk to my mental state.Feeling  quite proud of myself I began lifting pinecones and few clumps of earth,swirling them around in the air for my own entertainment.   
  
A wave of temptation passed over me as I caught sight of the oh-so-mighty Caleo sitting on her burnt tree stump,rusty brown back facing me.Without much of an after thought I hurled the items at the flareon with all my might.Entering hysteria when a clump of dirt hit her in the back of the head.The fire-type lurched forward and turned to glare at me with flaming blue eyes and my laughter faded into nothingness.

I flinched back as I felt the heat that the angry fire-type released with her rage,every strand of her dull orange fur bristled.

The flareon took a deep breath, and her fur flattened itself momentarily, I bended my legs slightly,uncertain of  whether or not Caleo would attack.

In a space of time smaller than a heartbeat.The flareon’s fur fluffed up and she exhaled, the  breath that came out of her mouth transformed into sourcing flames.

With wide eyes, I skittered out of the way, tripping on my own paws to avoid the fiery blast.I moved into a crouching position staring at my aggressor,  I lifted my hackles and hissed.The flareon snarled baring her fangs and I returned the gesture waiting for her next move.

With a surprising amount of speed, the flareon leapt forward claws outstretched and finding myself with little to no time to react I took the blow at full force.With a shrill cry I was thrown backwards finding myself pinned under the weight of the much larger fire-type.

Panic and old memories started to rise in my mind and I did what I couldn't do back then.Closing my eyes I created a confuse ray and shot it directly at Caleo’ forehead.

The flareon’s eyes glazed over taking on a purplish-silver color and she screeched in distress as haze filled her mind.Her grip slacked and I kicked her off me.

Once I had recovered from Caleo’s attack, I stumbled out of camp and into the comfort of the more lively forest.Pausing to look at the glaring  flareon that was much to my dislike related to me by blood.

  


* * *

 

_The silver clouds of the cold and usually empty Mindscape were the only thing that I saw._   
_  
_Unlike my counterpart who was convinced that this hell hole was better than the forest ; I minded, dreaming like a normal pokemon was a rare occurrence for Us, and when it happened I was grateful. To Midnight the Mindscape was comforting place that was only accessible to Us and to her bewilderment Link. A place where We could and would always protect each other.

  
_I yawned looking around in hopes of seeing my alter-ego, but she surprisingly wasn't in my field of sight, another glance at the eternal mass of silver and black mist and I began to walk aimlessly._   
  
_I had no idea of where I was, the mist all looked the same to me.My calm slow walk picked up speed as I felt the gravity begin to press down on my back.Growling I trudged out of the gravitacional pocket, and sent a silent thanks to Palkia or Giratina or whoever was the designated deity of gravity for not crippling me._   
  
_Walking,walking,walking...There was nothing more than walking, there was no noise, no sun, no moon,no sky,nobody else than me at the moment._   
  
_It was pure loneliness._   
  
_My ears twitched nervously as I stopped to look around.The  silence was unnerving, and in the forest it was a clear sign of danger.My red eyes scanned the clouds, searching for some deformity or any oddity in the clouds that hinted at a hidden enemy._   
  
_There was nothing but I refused to let my guard down,I had learned the hard way that not following my gut instinct usually led to horrible, horrible things._   
  
_Another paranoia-driven glance and a flash of my rings did little to calm me and I half imagined some demon jumping out of the dark and screaming in my face._   
  
_I shook my head and gritted my teeth, I was a dark-type I was supposed to cause fear, not to be a victim of it!I was the one who with a mere bite to the neck caused death swiftly, the one who gave out heart-attacks with just the glow of her rings, I was the creature that ate rotting corpses and spat venom!_   
  
_Yet the fear still persisted, it still crawled down my spine,and settled in my guts making my flight instincts scream._   
  
_Swallowing the rocks that had formed in my throat I opened my jaws slightly to take in the life-less cold air of the Mindscape.I scented nothing out the ordinary but my fear only grew.Glancing around once more, I created some dark energy in my mouth, keeping my muzzle slightly parted so that I could quickly shoot the ball of negativity._   
  
Click,click,click.   
  
_The sudden clicking sound made me jump and I spun around pushing my ball of dark-energy out of my jaws and into the clouds in a wide arc._   
  
_The clicking sound persisted seemingly coming from all directions.I trembled unable to stop the fear from rising to the surface,my heart pulsed wildly as my gaze bolted from one spot to another._   
  
_The clicking became louder and more disorienting coming from the left,from the right, behind me, in front of me...everywhere, everywhere,EVERYWHERE!I spun around in tune to the clicking trying to determine when and where to attack,but it was fruitless._   
  
_I felt my body freeze up against my will and panic flooded my mind, my legs became numb and heavy and all struggles to escape the physic grasp became null as the same energy that paralyzed me invaded my mind.I could do nothing more than exist trapped in silent panic, my sides heaved as the physic user broke deeper into my mind, ripping the thick dark-type barrier that kept my memories,emotions and thoughts sealed away,they did that action with so much ease that I didn't have a doubt that this was a experienced mind reader._

_The darkness of the mindscape faded into darker darkness…_

 I blinked, feeling dizzy and disoriented as a yellow eyed umbreon tended to my wounds, my eyes focussed on the lights and shadows his blue rings created and how they morphed and grew, I looked up finding him replaced by a familiar group of eons, a glaceon,a vaporeon a jolteon and an eevee, they smiled at me and I smiled back...a small blink changed the scenery, now I was in the dark screaming without control, screaming familiar words and swears at Midnight “WHY THE FUCK CAN'T YOU SE-” my mouth clamped shut painfully and the taste of blood filled it,I coughed violently and found myself unable to breath gasping for breath as large paws pressed down on my neck....

  
_The last memory caused something in me to snap ,I growled and summoned enough rage-fueled dark-energy to serve the connection between me and the physic. My head ached  at the sudden disconnection and my limbs gave way underneath me, too numb to hold me up. I opened my eyes wearily and tried to get up,struggling thanks to the trembling and pain that wracked my body with every movement. l Focussing on the feeling of rage that was now bubbling inside me,the indignation....those memories were mine and Midnight’s alone and NOBODY had to go around forcefully reading them._   
  
_"I know your there!" I snapped, my fur stood on end tipped with venom, as I slowly rescanned the area._   
_  
_My ears twitch as I heard the nearby clicking and I shot a ball of dark-energy with a rather surprising speed.The shadow ball flew through the air, neatly cutting the clouds and smashing into the side of my enemy with a sickening wet crunch.I winced and peered into the hole expecting to see the mind-reading creature rise to its paws, but instead I saw nobody.

_With my tired and confused mind reeling I realized I was alone._

* * *

  


**Ariada's Pov:**

  
  
I stood at the edge of the den’s entrance-exit staring up cloudy night sky; the clouds clearly hinted that there would be a  change in weather- probably a subtle one considering the current season.

With Green-leaf nearly upon us,I found myself becoming more and more worried, the season of the sun tended to be blistering hot and very dry,with the only source of water being the lake and the rivers that fed it.

Glancing up at the clouds once more I shook my head, who knew?

Maybe this Greenleaf wouldn't be as bad as last year’s.

Stepping outside, I  breathed the slightly colder air, feeling the  small amounts of carbon dioxide get absorbed by my leaves,ready to become oxygen and energy once daylight broke.

I  looked around and  stumbled through the shadow filled clearing, squinting as I  tried to make out the small shape in front of me.With an irritated sigh I gave  up on sight and extended one paw to touch the hazy form.I felt the stiff rough surface of tree bark and passed my tiny claws over it, feeling how some of the drier looser wood scales,chipped off and fell to the grass with soft almost inaudible rustles.

Swishing my long tail I climbed onto the stump.Being up at these hours was rare for me but tonight I just simply couldn’t sleep,it wasn't because of Raiden and her spiky fur, or because of Caleo and the heat waves she occasionally created.It was just simply that I didn’t feel like resting.

I had considered going on a walk, but instinct advised me not to go,while  the forest was relatively predator free and my speed and powerful draining  attacks were a good defense,my blindness could lead to falling into a river or the lake like some idiot, and I didn’t want to end up drowning.

So I stayed on my stump, ripping of the wood scales and humming a little tune  that my mother had taught me so many moons ago.

It was boring, this camp should have had been filled with life even at this hour, umbreon coming back from hunting and a few leafeons helping  others deal with insomnia or some nightly aliment, and then there were the times that something happened over at the lake…...

_All the blood that was seeping into the mud and spilling into the lake, the various eeveelutions some dead, some dying,some barely clutching onto life…._ I shook my head and cleared the images away.

In a way that was a con of being a leafeon, constantly being asked to heal  wounds,having the life of the other eeveelutions in their paws, seeing death over and over because not everyone could be saved... but then again everybody had to deal with death eventually,it was a natural part of life.You live; you die, and maybe get remembered for generations if you did something important, or stupid or both.

It’s how things were,are and would be.

I hung my front paws off the edge of the stump and continued to chip away at the wood scales,I liked the sound of the wood separating from each other and the feeling of taking something apart with my tiny claws.My long  tail hung off the other side of the stump slowly swishing back and forth.

My ears twitched as I heard pawsteps behind me,and the air filled with the faint scent of ozone.

 “What are you doing at such an hour?”

 “I’d like to ask you the same question.”

 “I noticed that you were gone.”

 “Yeah, right.” I scoffed “You sleep like a rock Raiden.”

 The jolteon moved, grass swishing around her paws as she did so.I watched out of the corner of my eye as she sat down besides my stump.

“Seriously why are you awake?” Raiden asked “You usually don’t stir until morning.”

 I simply shrugged and sat up, lifting one paw to nibble a leaf that was growing between my toes.

 The jolteon huffed,and twitched her ears as the crackling sound of her breathing broke the silence.

 I began to lick a few misplaced leaves into place,and enjoyed the silence of the night,this  was rarely seen back in Relta.Somewhere a noctowl cried as it swooped down to catch its prey.

Done with grooming, I curled my tail around my legs and remained completely still on the stump.

 “Why are you awake?” Raiden asked me again.

 “Just because.”

 “Just because?” I met Raiden’s skeptical sideway glance.

 I nodded and dug my claws into the wood.The fur on my shoulder bristled slightly at the jolteon’s  gaze,my ears flattened slightly in annoyance while the tip of my tail twitched.

 I loved Raiden to no end but sometimes she could be too clingy, I understood her reasoning after all her ‘best friend’ Midnight was rarely around or in a good mood, Krystal and Misty left the pack along with various others,and Coal was dead.

 But her overprotectiveness bothered me, she knew well enough how fierce and resistant leafeons could be, yet she kept on treating me like some delicate daisy.

 “So…are you ready for the Equinox?”

 I shrugged, the Equinox while important seemed pointless with a pack of four.

 “Still bitter over the fact that our pack is small and that there are no other leafeons?”

 “Pretty much.” I muttered “I miss the crowds, the activity,sunbathing with Emeril,Nymphia,Ginger,and the others…”  
  
"Don’t worry, I’m sure that the Green-leaf Equinox  will have a few kits.”

 “You’ve been saying that ever since Midnight and Link started talking to each other,and they don't even sleep in the same nest anymore.”

 “Come on, Ari ; why can't you see the  love between them?”

 “I can't see anything right now.”

 “Let me fix that.” the jolteon laughed,there was a distinct crackling sound as her fur rose and turned into electric quills, the smell of ozone increased and I shut my eyes as electricity rippled through her fur,Illuminating the area with a pulsing purplish-white light.

 I pulled away from the electric pokemon, and blinked a few times.My eyes were hurting from the rapid change between light and dark, and the smell of ozone ; which always reminded of the sweet clean scent that the earth gave off after a thunderstorm was becoming unbearable; no longer pleasant.

 My throat and lungs began to burn as I breathed the ozone filled air,and I jumped clumsy off the stump.My  vision distorted, quickly speckling with black as I wobbled away from the jolteon.

 The sound of electricity stopped and and I was vaguely aware of Raiden rushing to my side.I trudged forward away from her  on legs that felt bloated and more useless than a vaporeon on land.

 “Ariada, you feeling alright?” Raiden fussed walking next to me.

 I would have spat that I was on the verge of collapse but a simple ‘Neh,’was all I could muster.

 “I’m so sorry! I'm sorry!” The crackling sound returned and my legs collapsed due to the sudden increase in ozone.I madly scrambled in the dark trying to access the clean air above.

 I faintly heard a squeak, that I assumed came form Raiden and the ozone lessened, in fact the jolteon’s presence vanished, and I breathed in the clearing air greedily.

 Once the numbness faded from my body I winced realizing with a pang of annoyance that Raiden was  going to be more protective of me.

  _Wonderful._

Thanks to the sweet scent of the grass and earth returned the tightness of my throat subdued and I purred content.

 “Sorry about that.” Raiden said sheepishly

 “Don’t fret about it,-” I coughed and the jolteon bolted to my side worried.

 “I’m fine,I’m fine!” I cried getting to my paws as the crackling filled the air again, my mate remained skeptical,pelt slightly spiked up and ears flat.

 “See?” I mewed doing a small spin. “It’s my fault anyways for being a friggin idiot.”

 “Language.”Raiden growled lightheartedly “It's _fucking_ idiot not, _friggin.”_

 “Swearing is a terrible sin.”

 “Then stop implying it.”

 “I’ll stop ‘implying swearing’ once you actually stop swearing.That way we’ll both be clean.”

 “I’ll die swearing then.”

 I chuckled at her words and licked my paw frowning at how the leaf between my toes had become limp and lifeless.My ears,foreleaf and tail where going to completely ruined!

In fact; I couldn’t even feel them!

 I growled slightly and yawned,glancing quickly at the sky.It remained cloudy and useless for time-telling.

 “Tired?”

 I nodded and allowed Raiden to lead the way back to the den.

 Once we were curled up soundly in our nest, I made a mental note to go out before the sun rose in the horizon.Raiden wasn't going to leave me alone otherwise.

* * *

 I had actually managed to  complete my task of leaving camp before the sunrise and now I stood dumbfounded in the twilight.The tip of my tail twitched , as I tried to make out the shapes of the forest from the silvery orange glow that seemed to illuminate and overshadow everything.  
  
"Crap."

 I sighed and decided to wait for my eyes to adjust to the slowly growing clarity,my ears twitched sensing the light and immediately began the photosynthetic process.Whatever exhaustion I had faded away as I was filled with energy.I sunbathed between a tiny pair of sapling trees until the sun had risen over the mountains that loomed over  our territory.

 Yawning I proceeded to get up from my resting place,I stretched,groomed my slightly ruffled cream coat and made my way to….somewhere…

 In the end the area I had gotten myself into wasn't the kind of area that I didn’t  liked to be in.An area with small trees with too much space between them, grass that had been trampled and trimmed down so much that it was dry and thin.

 Raiden wasn’t going to find me!

  
The trimmed down state of the area bothered me,this was recent.My eyes caught an odd track and I neared it cautiously sniffing it despite the fact that I had no sense of smell at the moment.

 There were two long trails,composed of a series of raised bumpy lines sandwiched between flattened earth.Whatever had caused the print was heavy and had moved recklessly through the forest plowing through the undergrowth without a care.

 The tranquility of the area was now unquestioned.Humans had passed in this area with their vans and cars.

 I canted my head to the left confused by the occurrence.The humans had already come earlier this year, they had checked our population, the state of the forest and left after two weeks without causing much disruption to the forest life.

 It was odd….my eyes followed the trail and I pondered whether or not to follow it.In the end I walked alongside the tire tracks, Raiden was probably already searching for me and so I needed to keep moving, if the humans tried to catch me, I could fight just fine.

 My fur prickled and I glanced up at the trees, seeing no pidgeys or spearows above my head, the ground had been undisturbed since the car or van had rushed though and everything was filled with an unnatural silence.

 My nerves buzzed as I followed the trail farther and farther away from safety.My ears twitched as I heard something move among the undergrowth,I glanced over my shoulder as I heard light  paw steps.

The undergrowth rustled again, and I froze seeing a flash of black and white between the leaves.  
  
"Why are you following the tire tracks?"   
  
I yelped in surprise and scrambled hastily to face the chuckling sylveon that was standing behind me.   
  
"Don't do that! You nearly gave me a frigging heart-attack!"   
  
A feeler immediately covered my mouth "shhh...Swearing is a terrible sin."   
  
I tried to speak though the furry ribbon but the only thing that could be heard was ‘Mmmph!’.Link lifted his other feelers and looked around cautiously, his long rabbit-like ears twitched as he sensed something.

 “Let’s go.” He whispered  guiding me back in the direction that I came from.I growled and another feeler pushed me forward.

 “Shhh….” He mewed looking concerned as he placed a feeler over his mouth “We have to leave.”

 I flattened my ears and allowed myself to be escorted back to where I had first seen the tire trail.

 “What were you doing there?!” Link asked me  waving his feelers frantically “Those were tire tracks!”

 “I know,” I growled annoyed.

 “Wh-what are you even doing so far from camp? Raiden, she  was frantic when she saw you were gone!”

"I wanted to go on my own!" I snapped “I don’t need Raiden to constantly care for me, I’m sick of it!” My foreleaf quivered and toppled swinging uselessly in front of my face. "I can defend myself, I'm not some friggin daisy."   
  
"I wouldn't blame Raiden for being a tad over-protective considering the amount of graves in this forest."   
  
I winced at Link's comment, but still didn’t allow the bitterness to leave my voice.   
  
"I guess, she has a point, but I still don't like it.Being.A.Leafeon.Doesn't. Make.Me.Weak."   
  
"Suit yourself,-"Link mewed licking his small pink paw "-right now I would feel a lot more comfortable if I knew my mate was safe." 

I rolled my eyes and blew my foreleaf out of my face.The sylveon looked back at where we had come from and I followed his gaze.

 “What was in there?” I asked

 “I’m not sure….but I felt a very bad vibe.”

 “A dark-type?”

 “No, it’s aura didn’t carry such negativity.”

 “So?”

 “It's not the pokemon itself that worries me, its what was up ahead….”

 Link shook his head as if to clear it “We should tell the others about this.”

 "And then what? Caleo won’t care or do anything.She’ll probably shrug it off,Midnight will most likely not be at camp  and Raiden won’t let me leave her sight.”

The sylveon sighed, feelers and ears drooping.“Why must you all be so complicated?” he sighed again “Let’s get back to camp before Raiden mauls Caleo or vice-versa.”

 I nodded and reluctantly followed the dainty fairy-type back to camp.

  
  



	3. Equinox

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The eons of Relta decide to take a small trip before their Equinox celebration.

###  **Chapter Three: The Equinox**

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Raiden’s Pov:**

 

The clouds drifted lazily fragmenting thanks to the warm breeze that came from the mountains.The sky was a soft mix of  lavender and pink ,early sunshine slipped through the holes in the forest canopy and dappled the floor with silver patches of shadow and light.The forest with its sounds and scents had almost fully fledged into Greenleaf; a time of warmth and abundance.

We had traveled into the depths of what had formerly been Reltian territory,over the river and near the Spiral stone, that marked the northern corner of the old territory.

Midnight and I were stretched out on the grass, soaking up the growing sunlight.Grass whipped gently around us and we watched as Ariada attempted to teach Link the fine art of herbal healing.I chuckled softly as the leafeon snapped at him, angered by his lack of knowledge.

Sylveon along with leafeon were usually always taught the fine arts of healing,leafeon had all those natural plant based talents and sylveon were empathic and generally more mentally stable than the other two love influenced eeveelutions.Sure we had had a few other eons species  as healers across Reltain history but they were exceptionally rare and usually needed imenese control and a more extensive training.

 “Sage, clover, rosemary, and this is.. ” Ariada mewed pointing a pile of herbs, the sylveon took the stems,leaves and white flowers in his feelers and gently sniffed them.His blue eyes were narrowed as his extra feelers flicked around him, showing his uncertainty in regards to the plant’s identificacion.

 “Daisy?” I could hear his voice quivering.

The leafeon hissed and flattened her long ears.”This is chamomile!” she snapped,her long tail lashing back and forth.

 “He’s fucked.” Midnight whispered to me.

 “Pretty much, wonder how Ari will threaten him.”

 “I’ll bet that she’ll threaten to shove the chamomile up his a-”She stopped herself and chuckled at the sight of the male sylveon bounding towards us,ever so gracefully despite his terrified and panicked expression.

Ariada being a leafeon and by proxy one of the fastest eeveelutions  easily caught up to the comparability slow fairy-type and tackled him to the ground with a surprising amount of force.

 “Oh f...sh,-”Midnight growled not finding a word to describe the situacion as  she pushed herself to her paws and walked towards the scuffling eeveelutions.

 I sighed,stretched and quickly made my way towards the pair.Midnight  quickly separated the quarreling duo with her physic energy, and huffed dropping them on the ground with little-to-no concern if they landed face-first.

 “And they say umbreons are violent and irracional.”

 I sighed,“Seriously Ariada?”

 The leafeon narrowed her violet eyes “Sorry, it just annoys me that this idiot-” she pointed at Link with her dainty brown paw “-Can’t tell cheromile apart from a daisy!”

 "Ari, I can't tell them apart either.They both look like the same fucking thing.”

 "Besides,” Midnight added with a teasing tone “You used to confuse yew berries with juniper berries,it's a miracle you didn't kill someone!” her lip curled up as she gave Ariada a smile.

 “B-b-” The slim leafeon gritted her teeth, flattening her ears in either denial or embarrassment if not a mix of both. “frig,”

 “Fuck.” I corrected.

 The leafeon groaned “But yelling was how Emeril told us to  fix our mistakes.”

 “That's one messed up learning environment.” Link noted. “How did you even stand that kind of treatment?”

 Ariada flattened her ears and ignored the question.

 “Didn’t Viridis teach you all of you leafeons healing, why would you need Emeril?”

 “There were somethings that he didn't know and Emeril,coming from a human city knew.”

 “Like what?” Link asked his voice cold and steely as he narrowed his bright blue eyes.

 “Proper cultivation of rarer types of plants and alternative solutions to green,white and red cough in case there wasn't any nepeta.”

 “Still doesn’t excuse you from yelling and threatening Link.”Midnight said dully.

 “I said I was sorry!”

 The umbreon muttered something under her breath and smacked Link with her long bushy tail, the sylveon gekkered softly but finally sat up straight, Midnight leaned over and whispered something in his pink rabbit-like ears.He pushed his mate’s face with his feelers while she chuckled softly.

 “When are the kits coming?” I asked with a teasing tone while changing the subject.

 The happy pair stared at me with wide eyes and Link’s feelers curled up at the tips before Midnight’s red eyes lit up and she replied with a laugh as she gently shoved Link “Soon in Leaf-bare or in Early New-leaf.We’ll have so many kits that you’ll hate us!”

 “And how many would that be?” Ariada asked.

 “Umm…how about ten?”

 “Holly Frig, isn’t that too mu-”

 “Shit!-” I interrupted “-kits mewling day in; day out, Caleo’s gonna kill both of you.”

 “And your fucking point is?”

 “And there we go again…” Link sighed his long ears drooping. “Please tell me that our kits aren't going to speak like that.”

 Midnight opened her mouth but quickly closed it her ears twitching every now and then as she stifled a laugh.

 “What a sin-filled generation.” Ariada groaned dramatically, her black-speckled foreleaf climbing towards the sun as she stretched.

 “Stop being dramatic Ari.”

 “Swearing is a terrible sin.”

 I rolled my eyes “So is implying swearing.”

 “It’s not swe-”

 “Why does it feel like we have this conversation almost everyday?” Midnight groaned flattening her short ears and burying her head in her large paws.

 “There isn’t much to talk about.”

 "we should go and visit the city...." Ariada mewed.

 My ears twitched at the idea.It certainly wasn’t the first time the stunt had been mentioned,but sadly it was something I doubted we would actually manage to accomplish.The nearest human settlements-farms as Slate had told us they were called-were miles away, randomly placed among fields filled with fluffy mareep, miltanks,taurus and annoying canines.The human city itself was  moderate-sized speck in the distance way past the farmlands,all in all a half-moon’s worth of traveling,if not more.

 “Maybe with some planning.Tonight's the Equinox and we desperately need that blessing and besides we don't  have any traveling mixes.”

 ”That’s what we always say,” she growled “We'll plan this, we’ll plan that, but do we ever do anything we say?!”

 “Look I promise we’ll go to the city but it really requires time.”

  “Then why don't we visit Viridis?” Ariada suggested,shaking her head to move her now crumpled leaf out of her face. “That’ll be doing something different won’t it?

 “I don't know about you, but I’m going.” I said lazily getting up and surprising myself by realizing that I had never noticed that I had been lying down in the first place.

 I heard the paw-steps and the swishing grass behind me indicating that my packmates were following,slightly raising my spikes I lead the way towards the dreaded ‘Crimson lake’.

 In better times it was known as ‘Lake Pacis’ with ‘pacis’ being some-kind of special word in the old language that was spoken back in the days when there were four packs instead of three, years before Slate came to Relta and years before Ryewhisker and Cloudberry’s famously infamous affair.

 Unfortunately in recent years the area around the lake had been the place of various murders and violent attacks, mostly in Reltian territory and so it had been renamed Crimson lake.I had always found it odd that the attacks had begun with a wounded vaporeon and ended with dead vaporeon.

 We carefully made our way around the edge of the lake,avoiding treading on the sticky mud, I turned my head slightly to look back at my companions.Ariada’s ears twitched uncomfortably and Midnight was just staring blankly while Link kept one feeler wound around her leg and another one loosely around her neck,steering her every so often.

 Aside from Midnight’s occasional incoherent mumbling, the  trip though the lake shore was a long and suffocating uncomfortable silence.By the time we arrived at the base of Viridi’s mountain I was relieved.

 “You came up here every half-moon Ari,-” I said admiring the rising slope,“-lead the way.”

 Looking slightly tense the leafeon nodded and began to lead us up the mountain path.

* * *

 

Slowly the terrain changed,the forest and plants melted away somewhere above the mountain base, and the path became basically non-existent forcing us  to scramble over a mix of rock and earth.The plants had reduced themselves to a few unhealthy looking herbs and gnarled trees that clung onto the rock.On this rocky terrain it became difficult to find a paw hold,and occasionally when my large paws slipped I would send a cascade of loose rocks down at Link and Midnight.

 I looked up at the leafeon that lead the way, watching as her long crinkled tail swished back and forth  as she moved.Ariada took the mountain with ease swiftly moving from rock to rock,somehow managing to grasp the stone at the right places with her tiny dull claws.

 She stopped once she was atop a large bolder and looked down at us, violet eyes twinkling.

 “We’re almost there!” She mewed wagging her tail,“We just have to follow this path to Viridis cave.”

 With difficulty I clambered  onto the boulder,gasping for breath as I pulled myself onto the top.Despite the fact that Jolteon were made for strenuous activities such as running long distances and climbing great rocks,I felt tired, my legs aching and feeling like liquid.

 “Fuuuuuck,” I groaned,“I need to exercise more often.”

 My mate thrilled in response,jogging in place as she waited for Midnight and Link to catch up,seemingly more energetic than when we first had started climbing.

 I always awed me how such a delicate-looking species could be so resistant, but that was how leafeon were, fast, and surprisingly good at fighting and other activities, if they weren’t disgusted by meat and blood they would easily rival, umbreons,espeons and sylveons in terms of hunting abilities.

 However the grass typing gave them a lot of weakness some type-based, others coming from nature itself.Fire and ice were terrible for leafeons in both forms,ozone caused wilting and black spots, too much water caused inner rotting and too little caused dehydration, and poison….poison was just lead  to a horrible slow death in which one felt burning pain in their veins as their intestines and organs turned into black mush all while the brain jerked and sent maddening signals to the dying nerves..

It was grim.

 “Hurry, the frig up!” Ariada snapped, her voice bouncing of the rocky surfaces. “It’s already sun-high!”

 “Coming!” Link called back, I peered over the edge of the boulder to see the dainty sylveon moving sluggishly due to exhaustion,his feelers dragged behind him,Midnight on the other paw,looked slightly less worn but her thick pelt was still drenched in venom and her steps had a slight wobble to them.

 While we waited on the rock, I recovered the feelings in my legs and Ariada basked in the sunlight.I scanned the landscape for a trail and my eyes only found one, a rising twisting path at the edge of the cliffside  that lead to a rickety looking ledge.I gulped noting for the first time how high we were,from the bolder I could see the forest; a sea of rustling greens that swiftly transformed into vast green fields,spotted with livestock and farms, beyond that I could make out the tall towering ‘skyscrapers’ of the city.

 “The view never fails to impress me.” Midnight mewed and I jumped, raising my quills, startled by the dark-type’s presence, I hadn’t noticed she had already climbed the rock.Link was also on the top, heaving as he also stared at the silhouetted city, his face however was serious, he didn't share the amazed gaze of his mate.

 “You would be left speechless if you saw it at night.” Ariada said pointing her brown paw at the city, “The fields are filled with glowing  mareep,flaaffy and ampharos but the city shines as if it were made of starlight,it even blends in with the skyline itself.”

 “I can’t believe that Slate said that that city fell into ruins, it looks as if never was destroyed.” I said attempting to imagine a brown smudge instead of the tall towering structures ‘The city of the demons’ as Slate called it in his stories, the place where humanity messed with the forces of life and death to create a  terrifying offspring that still roamed the earth to this day.

 We stayed gazing at the silhouetted city, maybe someday we would visit The City of the Demons and search for any evidence that it had once fallen into ruin and despair, until then its history would be a mere legend.

 “Let’s continue, maybe we can see the city at sunset.” Ariada said gracefully jumping down from the bolder and starting to lead us through the twisting narrow trail.

 The ledge at first had seemed close but now as I carefully moved on the narrow path I realized that I was wrong.The trail sloped upwards becoming more and more difficult to traverse, a few rocks fell off the edge as I moved my paw too much to the right,I didn’t dare look down feeling that if I did I would fall down as well, sharing the same fate as the pebbles.

 Ariada stopped suddenly and I nearly walked right into her, the leafeon hissed and I peered over her shoulder, my stomach lurched as I stared; the rocky trail just cut off, leaving a large gaping crumbly edged hole, that was too wide to jump over.

 “What now?” Midnight asked.

 “Well, I don't know,” Ariada admitted with a shrug “This wasn’t here, when I used to come.”

 “Maybe, I can carry you across.” Link suggested.I considered the sylveon’s idea,but the rather horrifying failed scenario of  Ariada, Midnight or myself getting accidently dropped to our deaths flashed in my mind,and I shuddered pressing myself against a rock wall.

 “I don’t think it's a good idea.” I mewed feeling sick to my stomach

 “Then what else do you suggest we do to get across, I don't think I can use psychic to lift anything bigger than…” Midnight trailed off,biting her lip in thought.I felt something press around me, similar to a breeze or the wind except that this time it also felt solid,I looked at my paws and flattened my ears in alarm as I saw the red colored energy around them.

 “Don’t you dare…”I growled at the dark-type.

 I was slowly lifted in the air, a few harmless inches at first but all too quickly I was being held above Ariada’s head,the physic grasp wasn’t tight and I found myself kicking and thrashing.

“Put me down Midnight, please put me down!”

 I was carried closer and closer to the gap,until I was floating above it,my fur turned into sharp electric quills as I stared down into the dark void.

“Putmedown,Putmedown,PUTMEDOWNPUTMEONTHEFUCKINGGROUND!”

 The physic grasp weakened considerably and I went still,the drop becoming closer,as I wobbled in mid-air,the umbreon’s physic hold on me  then became suffocating and I was thrown onto solid earth.

 I rolled a few feet and got up groggily feeling slightly dazed.I jumped back once I realized how close I was to the edge and sucked in my breath, feeling my blood freeze over and my stomach fill with rocks  at the idea that I could have had rolled off the ledge so easily.Shivering involuntarily I imagined myself just falling into the abyss thanks to Midnight’s terrible physic abilities.

 I looked back at my packmates,Ariada and Link looked at me with wide horrified  faces, while Midnight leaned against the rocky wall.

 I growled and turned away from my packmates,lifting my paw to give it a few licks.The rocky path stretched a bit further,I could make out the end-  a small grassy area.If I squinted it was possible to make out the entrance to a cave.

 I turned to face my brethren “I’ll see if Viridis can help you get across!” I called, the eeveelutions nodded and I began to speed-walk towards the cavern.

 I sniffed the entrance, feeling slight paranoia as I sniffed the entrance of the cave, there was a strong bitter-sweet herbal smell that mixed with a musky but spicy odor  reminiscent of a fire-type and the idea that Viridis no longer lived in the cave entered my head.I took a deep breath and mustered the courage to enter the cave.Hopefully whatever was inside was more tolerant than Caleo.

 “Viridis?” I called, looking around,the den was contrary to what I had believed it looked like, while the entrance was dark,narrow  and filled with shadows, it quickly widened and lead to a large clearing, the rocky roof above had a large unnatural hole that permitted the sunlight to enter.Mossy nests where scattered here and there, some occupied by sick and injured pokemon, a large tree trunk was placed next to a wall, covered in various different herbs and berries.

 “He’s not here,jolteon” A tiny voice squeaked said,I followed the voice until my eyes rested on a young growlithe“He’s out collecting comfrey root or something like that, for the last two hours.”

 I looked at the dog again and felt a tinge of pity for him.He was barely more than a weaned pup,and already his front leg was swatted tightly in spinarak silk and kept straight with a branch.Where were this kid’s parents?

 I turned to leave when the puppy barked- no more like coughed something to me.

 “Be careful,somebody has placed leg traps in the woods.”

 I nodded in acknowledgement and sprinted outside  towards my packmates.

 “Is  Viridis there?” Ariada called,standing at the edge of her side of the gap.

 I swallowed seeing how the grass-type balanced herself and shook my head, “No, but there’s a growlithe whose waiting for him.”

 The leafeon frowned,her long black speckled leaves drooping.

“So…..what now? Midnight barely got you across the gap and Link’s feelers are too short.”

 “I could stretch my feelers you know.”

 “And drop Raiden cause she’s too heavy? I don’t know about you Link, but I want to see my mate in one piece.”

 I shut my eyes and the unpleasant image flashed before my eyes.

 “I’m going to go see if there’s another way back.”

 “Good luck.” Ariada called as I hiked back towards Viridi’s clearing.

 “Don’t fall off a cliff!”

 

* * *

 

Up I went, higher up the mountain, and into the forest that had grown because of Viridis presence,it was calm here, the air filled with the soft singing of cherims, while the pink  flower pokemon were admittedly adorable I knew what their song really was.

 A warning.

 A reminder that they were watching, and that any infracion to Viridi’s rules would lead to dire consequences.

 Pinecos watched silently from the trunks of trees that weren't pines, their beady eyes staring into my soul and I twitched my ears uncomfortable with how high the guards of the grass-types were.It was strange…

  _For the last  two hours…_

 I swallowed and looked up at the cherims somehow their smiles didn't seem so innocent and their beautiful singing sounded more like the song sung at a funeral.

 My fears were confirmed when I nose caught the scent of blood, running forward I found myself staring at some kind of  bird.The bird’s tiny legs were firmly clutched by the hard metal jaws of a trap,in spite of the rubber padding meant to prevent injury the thin blue legs were bloody, the bird lay prone.Stiff and cold, beady eyes dull.

 “What happened here?”

 “A swablu was killed .” A cherrim chirped.

 “And what happened to the killer?”

 The cherrim shrugged. “The killer is a human, there isn’t much Viridis can do.We told him not to go after the human but he ignored us.”

 I took a step back from the corpse and stared at the cherrim, watching as she continued singing her funeral song,lifting her tiny pink arms to praise the sun.

 The rules of Viridi’s territory was simple, it was neutral ground and would remain as such as long as there was no killing and violent fighting.Break that singular rule for whatever reason and the grass-types would report it to Viridis,what happened after he was informed…

 It was said that maganiums where docile creatures,bringing plants back to life and nursing the sick and injured just like nearly every other grass-type, but living with leafeons had taught me that grass-types could be worse than dark and physic types if they wanted to, they could be vicious,violent and oddly sadistic at times.Grass-types could be life or death,it just depended on who you were dealing with.

 I wandered through the woods,unable to lower my quills out of sheer paranoia,the eyes of the grass-types seemed to follow me wherever I went and occasionally someone would chirp and remind me of the rules and point out that I was a predator, ‘innocently’ speculating on what happened to the rule breakers.

 I gritted my teeth hearing the rising and falling high-pitched voices, they seemed to be everywhere,in every tree always watching and singing.

 “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” I snapped at the dancing flower pokemon allowing my electricity to arch along the ground.They looked down at me with judging eyes.

 “I wonder what the punishment for attacking someo-” A electrified spike missed the cherrim head by inches.He and his brethren scattered leaping from branch to branch and out of my sight;presumably searching for Viridis.

 I continued my walk through the forest, unable to find an alternative route to get over or around the gap, I counted my steps, I wasn't sure how fast meganium were but given their large size and lumbering walk I found no reason to bolt into the undergrowth.

 Muttering a series of curses I became aware of how silent the forest had become, a few mushroom pokemon peeked out from the bushes, swelling to release a defensive cloud of  poisoned,drugged or paralyzing spores as I passed.I walked through the cloud indifferently knowing from experience that spores were unavoidable, if you didn’t breath it in it would get stuck in your fur and skin,and  intoxicate you from there.

 I shook myself once I was out of the mushroom pokemon’s range, creating a small sandstorm out of the spores.Looking myself over I flattened my ears displeased at how  some of the glittering dust was still stuck to my skin,shaking myself again did not work and I growled hoping that the poisoned and drugged spores didn’t begin to seriously affect me until later.

 Around an hour of two later, I was still searching for an easy way over the gap,something that was now looking impossible.There was no way to get around the gap that didn’t involve climbing higher, something that I didn’t want  to do.I wondered if my brethren was still waiting for me or if they had left to look for a route of their own; seeing as I took to long to get back to them.

 I stopped, gagging as my stomach churned with nausea, unable to vomit anything I forced myself to swallow the  mix of saliva and vile that had formed in my mouth.Almost immediately it returned and the semi-digested contents of my stomach spilled onto the forest floor along with some  thick black liquid and I groaned as my legs buckled from exhaustion.

 F _uuuuck._

 

* * *

  
I didn’t know how long I had spent knocked out in the grass but once I regained consciousness I scrambled to my paws, swaying slightly on my legs.I glanced at my surroundings glad to see that it was still light although judging by the sun’s position it was due to set in an hour.

 Fuck….this whole little adventure could  mess with the Equinox if I didn’t get back to my packmates soon.

 Stretching I  rose my fur enjoying the  feeling of how the electricity flowed from somewhere near my lungs to the roots of each individual strand of fur.It was a calming sensation,I purred listening how the rumbling was mixed with the crackling of electric-energy, shaking my head  I looked up at what I had to climb.

 The mountain peak.

 Feeling that my energy was renewed, I began to climb.

 This time around I wasn’t wracked by constant fear and nervosism, despite being uphill the ground beneath my paws was solid, hardened by generations of travelers.I could still see the world below me, not the world directly below but rather the surrounding world below, the fields and the city and the smaller mountains that loomed behind the city.It was a beautiful sight.

 There was no twisting narrow path,hell; there wasn’t a path just an endless expanse of greenery that I was somehow navigating through, ducking,weaving in, weaving out and between.I growled,as my fur got snagged in another thorn bush, I couldn't comprehend why my short pelt kept getting stuck, while  Midnight’s thick pelt never got snagged when she left camp by the backside.

It didn’t make any fucking sense.

 Freeing myself from the clutches of the thorn bush I paused; seeing how I had nearly stepped on a half-hidden leg snare.Shivering in slight terror I  continued with my movements more patient and careful.The sun slowly sank in the sky and I wondered whether the mountain was either very tall or I was just a slow walker.

Probably both.

 Eventually after what seemed forever I began to descend, slight pings of fear returned as I felt gravity pull me down and I had the constant  thought that one wrong step would send me rolling downhill and off to my death.

 It was an odd change of scenery, evidence that maganiums did have some kind of mystical power.The ground here was loose and dry, slipping between my paws like water.There were rocks and a few clingy plants whose names I didn't know, now I could no longer focus on the beautiful view of the land beyond the territories, I could only focus on not falling to my demise.

 The moon was slowly creeping out the horizon and into the  darkened sky by the time I saw my brethren, they were sitting on the ledge chatting among themselves.

 Link was the first to notice me, his feelers shot up and he turned to look up at me, his light blue eyes bright.

 “Raiden!” He called waving his feelers. “Raiden!”

 I broke into a run, too happy at finding my packmates to remember how loose and unstable the ground was.I lost my footing and  skidded down in a cloud of dust, I was stopped by both feelers and physic energy and I breathed out shakily, realizing that I was at the edge of the cliff.

 “Stupid gravity.” I muttered as I gathered my bearings and backed away from the edge.

 “How was your trip?” Ariada asked sniffing my fur, she immediately recoiled at the soft scent of poison that still clung to my fur.

 “It went fucking great,I attacked one of those stupid cherims,got poisoned and drugged and climbed a hill just to get here.”

 “Sounds like a good trip.” Midnight said sarcastically.

 I grunted in response and  peered down the dark path that led back to the mountain’s base and began to send electric energy to my fur.The area was soon illuminated by crackling purple-white arcs of energy.I looked over my shoulder at my packmates,Link had loosely wrapped a feeler around Ariada’s neck  while Midnight moved up to the front besides me,rings glowing in the pale light of the half moon.

 “Let’s go back to our territory, we still have an Equinox blessing to receive.”

 

* * *

 

** Link’s POV: **

 

We now sat gathered in the same clearing from where we had started our journey up the mountain.

 The moon was almost at its highest point and the stars of silverpelt twinkled brightly in the changing air.

Newleaf shifting into Greenleaf, comfort turning into abundance.

A big change was coming,as cliche as it was I could feel it in the breeze.

 We sat in a crescent shape around a pile of semi-dried herbs and sticks and  watched as Raiden crouched besides the pile and sent an arc of electricity to them, the greenery fizzled and began to darken and curl in response to the heat produced by the electric current until after a few more minutes of sizzling,a small flame appeared and grew.The air was filled with the thick smell of burning lavender,mint and sage  and my nose twitched, unaccustomed to the heavy herbal scents.

 Raiden walked back towards us and settled down besides Ariada, the leafeon’s leaves were beginning to whither but neither she or her mate, paid mind to it, instead they focussed  on the half moon that floated above our heads.

 “What are we waiting for?” I growled folding my feelers.

 “For moon-high.” Nightmare purred, not taking her eyes of the moon “Stop acting like this is the first fucking time you’ve been to an Equinox.”

 “Why do we even do this?”

 “It’s fucking tradition passed down from generation to generation, the Equinox has been a part of pack culture since the days of the old language.”

 I growled and began to tangle my feelers up in annoyance, traditions weren't my thing, useless boring rituals, old legends that have been told a million times, and yowling and preaching about gods and goddesses, all while taking it from some badly translated, changed by time,unreliable source.

 I hated being dragged to these kind of things, the non-stop preaching about things that I didn’t care about or understand,endless exhausting praying in fragmented ancient languages, singing and chanting and the stupid incense that clogged up my nose,dried my eyes and made me light headed.

 Yet, here I was.

Solely because Caleo wasn't exactly a nice talkative creature and she would probably burn me to a crisp if I tried to talk about our shared dislike for pack traditions.

 I began to untangle my feelers as Raiden stood up and said a few words in fragmented old tongue, why we even used that old language was beyond me.It was as if no one could decide if the language was dead or alive!

 I furled up my feelers deciding that tangling and untangling would probably result in ripping one off or at the very least bring damage to  a nerve ending.

 It was difficult to tell with these things, I didn’t even know if they were flesh ribbons or cartilage, and I had no intention on harming myself to figure it out.Feelers were terribly sensitive to emotions,slight shifts in the air and as the Mindscape had taught me gravity.

 I felt a soft nudge from Nightmare and I lifted my head pretending to pay attention to the story that Raiden was telling.It was the same story, the story about how the four pokemon whose names I immediately  forgot had created the seasons after a long battle for power,it would have been an interesting story if it wasn’t repeated every single Solstice and Equinox.It was also a long story, filled with what I thought were unnecessary details.

 I stared at the fire in front of me as Raiden’s voice faded into the background,the fumes from the burning herbs while bothersome did not compare to the fumes of burning trash and plastic, the light smoke was nothing if I recalled the thick,dark smog that filled the more….dangerous area of the ‘City of the Demons’.

 From the mountains and to anyone who had never gone there before; it looked beautiful,a thousand glimmering lights, a place to be explored.However to those who had come from the city and its gritty,busy human-filled streets it was all but that.

That city had done a good job of earning its nickname, especially considering the rumors…

 A nudge and a brief glare from Nightmare reminded me that I was ‘listening’ to the story,sheathing and unsheathing my claws I reluctantly began to listen.

  
“-ch of the gods couldn’t wait any longer, because 3 years was just too long to wait. They all had an argument and war  broke out between them, the world was in chaos, constantly shifting between the heat of Green-leaf and the chill of Leaf-bare, the awa-”

 “How much longer does this have to go on….” I moaned burying my head in my paws.

 “Stop acting like a spoiled kit, I’m already dealing with Midnight and her ‘I find your traditions stupid’ bullshit, so keep your arceus damn complaints to yourself. ”

 I growled and kept my head buried for the reminder of the story, I knew that Raiden and Nightmare were going to be pissed off by my behavior, but at the moment I couldn't care less.

 Eventually the story ended and the praying began, a loud obnoxious mumble of words that asked some face-less venison god for abundance and good health,change to the current situation and the such.

 Somehow, despite the constant murmuring and shouts of praise I began to drift off.

 A sharp jab brought me back to my senses.

 “Arceus damn it Night!” I snapped, jumping to  my paws and glaring at my mate.The praying stopped and I swallowed as I felt everyone’s gaze fall on me,the distinctive crackling sound filled the air and I slowly turned to face Raiden.

 The jolteon’s fur was so charged that she seemed to be twice her size,sharp needles glowing white at the tips,while electricity jumped from strand to strand in short but loud crackling bursts.

 The smell of ozone was heavy in the air and mixed unpleasantly with the scent of herbal smoke, vaguely reminding me of the scents that waffted from some alleyways in the city.

 “OUT!” Raiden snapped,I jerked back as a bolt of lightning leapt from her fur and struck the ground where my paws had been with an almost immediate clap of thunder.My mind reeled as I stared at the blackened and steaming grass and earth.

 I backed away,passing a quick gaze over my packmates and I winced internally at how they glared at me; with a flick of my now extended feelers and a snarl from Raiden I turned and bolted into the woods.

 Once I stopped-going as far as my long legs allowed me,I felt cowardice build up, it certainly hadn't been the first time I had fled,but this time I could have talked my way out of it, my life hadn’t been on the line this time.I attempted to shake my head clear of the guilt but it lingered, curling and uncurling the blue and bright pink tips of my feelers I cursed at myself for my stupidity at not using them to calm my packmates down.

 At least I was out of the Arceus damn Equinox.

 I sat down and licked my flank a few times,ears flicking  in the uncomfortable silence.My feelers moved along the ground seemingly having a mind of their own as they twitched sensing changes in the air, a  sense of dread settled into the pits of my stomach as a result of what they picked up.

 The aura was large and warped,difficult to read considering that it didn't belong to a pokemon; it was the aura of a human.The colors of the dim aura  were an uninteresting shade of grey.A neutral state.

 I lifted my feelers and checked the aura again, breathing out in relief at the realization that I didn't recognize the soul.

  _Good,_  I think to myself.I place a feeler under my chin as I ponder whether or not to investigate,another feeler drifts upwards to scratch the base of my neck and the remaining two coil around the ribbon that was attached to my right ear, they remained loose enough to slightly sense changes in the environment.

 The human- male currently wasn’t a threat he was sleeping at the least, sleeping a dreamless empty sleep considering the greyness of his aura.

 A part of me, hardened by my experiences in the city told me to stay away, no matter how harmless a human seemed they could be  horrible creatures; but another side reminded me that not all humans were disgusting and ambitious monsters, the ones that came every New-leaf to check on populations,health and how the forest was maintaining itself were nice, they didn't even interfere or trap us, they only watched from the distance.

 My two active feelers curled around my neck ribbon as I made up my mind, I checked the sky and sent a silent prayer to some unknown entity.Dawn would come soon and I doubted that a human in the forest would be a late sleeper.

 I made my way through the undergrowth, my paws light on the ground, feelers swirling around me serving as both a distractor and a sedant, I wasn't hunting but I still prefered that my surroundings remained  calm and that others were relatively unaware of my presence.

 The human’s camp came into view and I curled my upper lip in dislike, the undergrowth was trampled and crudely cut, barley offering any form of proteccion.There were some piled up, dirt-covered  logs that had evidence of a fire, and a white van was parked at the edge of the makeshift camp.Slumped in the driver’s seat was the human.A collection of six pokeballs neatly placed on the dashboard.He seemed to be one of the nicer ones, probably just a traveler.

 I smiled a bit at that, the dread that had had my nerves buzzing faded ever so slightly, I jumped onto the hood and winced at the loud sound, the human moved a bit and my heartbeat quickened in panic.He resumed his snoring and I felt almost amused.Curious, I peered into the back of the man’s van.I had expected something like a kitchen or a living room or something that had looked like the human homes I had seen on tv, instead I saw darkness with the faintest hints of a metallic gleam, there was something else…..A long necked creature with long antennae and  bright copper colored eyes gave me a pleading look. The dread and fear it felt flooded my system and mixed with my own paranoia.With a flick of my feelers I jumped off the hood of the van and ducked into the crippled undergrowth.

 

 


	4. Mind Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Nightmare is hunting in the waking world, Midnight encounters a curious being in the Mindscape, who brings promises of happiness and freedom in her life.

 

 

 

 

**Midnight’s POV:**

 

_I could see darkness,it was all in my field of sight save for a few silvery-grey clouds that drifted just as aimlessly as me.My pelt was fluffed up against the increasing cold and my short round  ears twitched nervously._

 

_Time had become blurry now...I always lost count after a while, it was hard to tell when the environment never changed,I would have liked to say it was a few hours but too much time had passed, any idiot would have had realized that they had been drifting in the void for at least more than a day._

 

_Not that it mattered, it was the same really.Whether in the constantly changing Waking or in the endless static Mindscape I had no company aside from Nightmare._

 

_She came when she could, or one of us would say something and the other would respond. I didn’t bother with trying to keep track of what Nightmare was doing,it just reminded me that I was alone…..and she wasn’t._

 

_I pricked my ears as I heard a familiar clicking sound,it had been following me for at least a week now, ever since Nightmare and I had accidentally stumbled into Ignatian territory.It was an odd coincidence I realized but I doubted that both occurrences where related._

 

_I had at first found the sound odd and terrifying, especially considering that I had been unable to contact Nightmare when I had first heard it, but now I had grown accustomed to it.I had stopped questioning it, after all I was floating in the void, and had another version of myself as my only form of companionship, maybe I was falling deeper into insanity?_

_After this I would see things that weren’t real and then I was probably going to get myself killed driven my own sick psychopathic subconscious._

 

_The clicking became louder and I froze catching a whiff of rotting meat, quickly I swallowed the rising  saliva and looked around, just in time to see a large creature walk out of the mist._

 

_It was another umbreon, a large umbreon huger than Caleo or any other eeveelution I had ever met for that matter._

 

_Exposed muscle tissue took up the right side of its face, an empty eye socket seeming shining among the red and white slabs of skin.The chest was in a similar manner, the left side this time was damaged with holes in the flesh revealing bones, the damage extended to the left side of its body and to a large portion of its front left leg.At what seemed to be the midpoint the fur and muscular tissue gave way to skeletal legs and paws.The umbreon looked at me with its remaining eye._

 

_I swallowed and tried to  muster the courage to speak, but my words felt clogged in my throat._

 

_“Are you afraid?”  The other umbreon asked, and I took a few steps back,flattening my ears uneasily.The voice had an echo similar to the one  that my voice got whenever We were both in the Waking but more unnerving, and distorted._

 

_“Don’t be afraid, you have no reason to be afraid.”_

 

_I swallowed and backed away more and more. “W-who are you?” I ask hating myself for my pathetic little stutter._

 

_“Well, I’m you.”_

 

_I looked at the mangled umbreon over and focussed on the parts of ‘her?’ that were still intact.She-he it? lacked the two tufts of fur on the top of its head and instead of two downward pointing tuffs it had four tuffs each on the side of its  face,it lacked the scar over the bridge of its nose and the one on its left cheek,the pelt was short and thin and its tail was short and bushy._

 

_My gut told me to run, but my curiosity stopped me from  doing so._

 

_“How can you be me...if you don’t look like me?”_

 

_“Well...I’m your determination, see my eye?”_

 

_I nodded, the eye was indeed a bright blue, the color of determined,undying souls._

 

_“I’m the manifestacion of your crumbling determination.”_

 

_“Crumbling determinacion?...” My ears flattened against my head and I took another few steps back, thanking the Mindscape for its lack of boundaries or environment._

 

_The skeletal umbreon vanished and I heard its voice directly behind me._

 

_“Yes, you are dying...slowly, but you are dying.The more control Nightmare has, the more you fade away, until eventually there’s no more Midnight.”_

 

_“I-i can’t die.” I said, feeling lost and unable to make a decent counter argument._

_Could I die and leave Nightmare as the sole owner of Our body?_

_Was that possible?_

 

_“Are you sure?Don’t tell me that you don’t feel it, everyday you are reduced to a mere name.Look at Nightmare she has everything you’ve ever wanted, friends,mate,she’ll have a few kits,a life...and you…”_

 

_“I just mope around,but I chose this! I told Nightmare to live through me!”_

 

_“Or...did Nightmare manipulate you into letting yourself go to waste?”_

 

_“I’m sure that I’m the one who told her to live through me…..”_

 

_“Are you really sure? Is this how you want to spend the rest of your days, fading away into the mist,depressed and wishing for the life that Nightmare has?Your packmates, they don’t remember the real you, your personality,your behavior, you are NOTHING.”_

 

_“I gave up on life.”_

 

_“If you gave up on life, why do you still breathe? There are a lot of easy ways to die...if you gave up on life, why do you still desire to have something similar to Nightmare, why do want to know what is beyond this territory?”_

 

_I stood frozen unable to think of anything to explain myself and my actions.Yes I admitted it I wanted something similar to what Nightmare had, this love and companionship,this trust, these good memories...and I wanted to see.I wanted to start fresh, a new Midnight, a new life._

 

_“Don’t worry, with the last bits of what remain of me, you’ll be free from Nightmare, you’ll have what you always wanted.Happiness.”_

 

_Happiness…._

 

_When was the last time I truly felt happy?_

_How did I even evolve into an umbreon?_

_Those memories were blurred and all previous happiness and trust they had held had become more bitter than sweet.As hard as I tried I couldn’t remember, everything was gone or…..hazy…._

 

_“See? You are dying, you are forgetting yourself.” The mangled umbreon hissed in my ear._

 

_I felt myself begin to shake, and my breathing and pulse sped up as the realization hit me._

_I truly was dying._

 

_“It’s a pity isn’t it?You still had so much to live, you had so much to learn and see of this world,but you ignored the meaning of your own soul.”_

 

_I felt weak all of the sudden, and my legs buckled underneath me,unable to support my body.I stared at nothing just listening to my determinacion list off everything I had missed by allowing Nightmare to live through me._

 

_Swallowing I turned and looked at the other umbreon ._

 

_“I want to live.”_

 

_It nodded, a grin forming on its face._

 

_“And what are you going to do to achieve a life?”_

 

_“I’ll see what I can do.” I said pushing myself to a sitting position, I heard how the skeletal umbreon’s bones clicked as it moved to sit down besides me.I felt tiny in comparison to it._

 

_“What should I call you?”_

 

_“You can’t name me.If you do, I slowly become something,someone else...I will no longer be raw determination I will be my own soul, a soul with determinacion at its core.”_

 

_“And…?”_

 

_“I might no longer look at things for your benefit, I may manipulate you like Nightmare.”_

 

_“Oh,” I looked at my paws and tried again to think back...the memories were now flashing freely in my mind too quickly to actually be able to focus on one, but I forced myself to focus anyways._

 

_In the blurry haze of memories one image stood out against the mess....not a memory..it was more like a vision.I could see myself traveling besides a group of creatures, too large to be eeveelutions._

 

_“That’s what you could achieve if you were to follow your soul.”_

_I stared at the hazy forms being able to only make out the glittery eyes of the creatures around the projection of myself.The image faded melting away and a series of memories flashed before my eyes, burning bits and pieces of them into my brain for brief moments._

 

_For a heartbeat, I felt the sun on my back, the wind in my fur and the meadow I stood in was filled with tranquility, all too soon it shifted turning into dusty barren ground, I flattened myself in terror as I heard the screeching and howling as a fight rang out; another shift and I was standing,shivering as snow piled up around me;another change and my vision clouded speckled with red, the fear rose up,becoming overwhelming and I tried to move,breath, do anything else but just scramble  in a losing fight.Can’t escape, can't breathe, Fight back FIGHT BACK!_

 

_The memories cut off and I found myself back in the dark,shivering and shaking._

 

_“Calm down…” the skeletal umbreon murmured, patting my back gently with its  large boney paw. “Don't worry,it's gone…”_

 

_I took a deep shaky breath, and tried to push away the unpleasant memories…_

 

_Inhale…_

Waking up in pain

_Exhale…_

Vision tinted red

_Inhale…_

“We didn't fight back enough.”

_Exhale…_

“It’s my fault Midnight, I failed you.”

_Inhale…_

“I-i didn’t listen to you.”

_Exhale…_

“I-i should have tried harder…”

_Inhale…_

_“We’re both to blame.”_

_Exhale…_

_“Maybe…maybe we are.”_

 

_“Shhhhh” the mangled umbreon purred….“That’s in the past now,look forward to the life that you want to have.”_

 

_“Look forward, walk forward, be free from this place, and live.”_

 

_“And live.” I echoed._

 

* * *

 

  


**Nightmare’s POV:**

  


I crept through the forest undergrowth,my eyes focussed on a pidgey that was mindlessly pecking the ground in search of seeds and other bits of bird food.The wind made the forest sway and I bit my bottom lip, feeling everything spin briefly...I gritted my teeth and moved closer to my prey.I crouched and prepared myself to spring forward.

 

I paused mildly annoyed and narrowed my eyes, placing my gaze on the still clueless avain that would soon be my meal.

 

I licked my lips and placed on paw in front of another, careful to not make any noise, I opened my jaws and drooled slightly, realizing that I was starving.Fluffing up my venom coated pelt I tensed my muscles and pushed myself forward at the tiny bird.

 

The pidgey opened its wings and in the brief space of time it took my body to move to where it was, it took flight, flapping its tiny short wings madly,kicking up dust and grass derbies to  limit my vision.I hissed and looked around angrily as the dust cleared, watching how the bird flew out of my reach into the safety of a tree.

 

I spat onto the ground and took mild satisfaction as the grass reacted to my rather weak venom.I sighed and sniffed the air hoping to catch a whiff of another potential prey, there was nothing in the area, the pidgey’s sand attack had alerted the prey of my presence.

 

With another sigh I made my way out of the tiny glade and into the thicker undergrowth, the air was thick with the scents of flowering plants and ripe fruits, a few half-rotten apples lay discarded on the ground riddled with pecks and bites and I took my time to sniff at them,curling my upper lip in disgust at the strong sweet and crisp scent.

 

Apples weren’t really something I liked, they just didn’t fit to well with my more carnivorous diet, Link and Ariada however adorred to eat the small red and green fruits,their fairy and grass type natures made them able to digest such a sweet and sugary thing. 

 

I paused my apple sniffing and pricked my ears, standing upright to scan the area around me.I made out a faint and familiar scent and salivated slightly.The scent was one that dark-types naturally considered a prey scent, bittersweet and refreshing it was the smell of a physic-type.

 

I swallowed and sniffed the air again as the wind changed direction and took the scent away.I growled and flattened my ears before shrugging and  looking up at the apple loaded tree.The orbs of red,yellow and green swayed gently in the breeze and I licked my lips as I spotted a spearow pecking at a rather ripe apple.

 

Spearow meat was a lot harder than the meat of other bird pokemon,killing one also proved to be more difficult due to how aggressive they could be.Like eeveelutions a singular spearow was a decent force but in a flock or pack they could be an army, something to be feared if the strengths and defenses  were used appropriately.

 

I scanned the branches for other spearow and most importantly for the Fearow that commanded the flock, surprisingly there were no other birds and I felt slight pity for the bird.

A loner.

Creatures that were natural group animals didn’t last long in solitary, they quickly became a meal,died to disease or died due to a loneliness induced depression.

The world could be cruel, might as well save the bird from that.

 

I trotted around the tree before throwing myself at the trunk, sinking my sharp claws into the wood, thrilling I  grappled my way up the tree, pushing myself closer to my prey with my back paws. The bird was alerted of my presence almost immediately he cawed out a shrill warning cry and glared at me, puffing up his brown and red feathers.

 

I climbed onto a branch and slinked towards the bird, focussing some dark-type energy in my jaws, the bird cawed and flapped his wings, beak glowing with weak normal type energy.

 

I moved  forward and growled softly, the bird was cornered no way for him to escape.The spearow gave me one last warning caw before it launched itself forward, body becoming consumed by the dark energy of a pursuit attack, I let out a soft cry of surprise as the bird plowed into me with a force that nearly sent me toppling to the ground.I hissed as the spearow raked my face with its rather sharp claws and I  released the half-forgotten ball of dark-type energy.

 

The unexpecting bird was tossed back and off the branch, slightly injured the bird flapped its wings to lessen the fall and quickly hopped into the undergrowth.I growled watching how the bushes rustled from above.

 

Completely alone in the tree, I sat up and began to wash my face.There wasn’t blood just a mildly irritating sting.With the tip of my long messy tail twitching in annoyance, I began to look for a way down.

 

Once I was back on the ground I sighed more annoyed with myself than I was before.I couldn’t believe that  two stupid birds had escaped my grasp.

 

I paused and twitched my ears...I could hear faint whispers in the back of my mind.

 

“Midnight?”

 

“Midnight?”

 

I narrowed my eyes,slightly bothered by the lack of response and carried on with my hunt.

 

Time dragged on, failed attempt after failed attempt….it almost felt as if there wa someone or something sabotaging my kills.The scent of a physic type lingered here and there, tempting and sweet.

 

The hunger grew, and I found myself walking in a haze, following and losing scents, aimlessly getting closer to the ever present physic type.I trudged forward my mind focussed on eating, my stomach growling and threatening to digest itself.

 

I followed the scent of prey… into the deeper woods, ignoring the warnings from my environment,I followed the physic type into a quiet glade.

 

My head began to hurt and I gritted my teeth as the world spun turning into a blurry haze.

 

I shook my head and took a few steps forward, my paw gazed something cold and hard…

 

_SNAP!_

 

I jerked back and cried out,madly shaking my paw in an attempt to free it from the snare.The metal jaws were gripping my skin tightly,not enough to cause a wound but enough to keep my paw in place.I pulled and pulled but was unable to free myself.The bushes around me rustled and I looked around, my ears flattening themselves as fear and panic creep up my spine.

 

Images flashed before my eyes and as much as I tried to drive them away,the memories flooded my mind.

 

_It was New-leaf,green grass covered  with morning dew,sunshine weekly peeked through the branches,I appreciated the area for a brief moment before everything went dark and ducked watching wide-eyed in terror as a fight rang out,the dust that was rising transformed into soft white snow that swirled  and piled around me and made my vision white, there was another change, my vision was red, every muscle ached with exhaustion and my struggles to get free became weaker and weaker and my screams for help were cut short.Everything stilled and became meaningless as all my senses faded  into pain and disgust…_

 

I blinked coming back to the eerie forest glade, I found myself shaking and hyperventilating,unshed tears stung my eyes and my empty stomach churred.With the world spinning around me and my mind being wracked by my own fuzzy half-repressed memories I didn’t feel my legs give way until my chin painfully slammed against the hard earth.

 

_“We didn't fight back enough.”_

_“It’s my fault Midnight, I failed you.”_

_“I-i didn’t listen to you.”_

_“I-i should have tried harder…”_

_“We’re both to blame.”_

_“Maybe…maybe we are.”_

 

I shut my eyes and allowed myself to be overrun by my thoughts,there was no escaping them in the long run.

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Well I hope you enjoyed reading this chapther of SaNiTY.  
> 


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